Investigation of effect of pour

point depressant on wax

deposition and crude flow
behavior

By,
M Afzal Akthar
15MT000306
 Introduction
• Wax deposition is a critical operational challenge to
the oil and gas industry.

• Wax deposition problems occur in a wide range

of locations in the petroleum production chain,
including flow lines, surface equipment, and
topside facilities, and downstream refineries. In
some of the extreme cases, it can also occur in well
tubings.
 Problem
• When the waxy components can precipitate out of
the oil and form solids, resulting in slurries in the oil
flow : require higher pressure drop for
transportation.

• Importantly, the precipitation of these components

on the inner surface of the pipe wall can lead to
the formation of wax deposits

• These deposits cause reduction in effective flow

diameter and may eventually lead to complete
blockage in some cases, if not checked
 Background
• In early to mid 1990s , wax depostion problem
usually was a problem in onshore resources

• Because easy access and management , onshore

wax deposition can be addressed by relatively
simple methods, including:
o The optimization of the operating conditions (pipeline size,
pressure, etc.).
o Heating of the pipeline
o Mechanical removal of the wax deposit(say Pigging)

• Heating or mechanical methods was used

occasionally and was generally not prohibitive.
Shift to offshore
• In late 20th century ,
wax deposition
problem has
become increasingly
challenging

• Production of
petroleum fluids
shifted from
onshore resources
toward offshore
reservoirs around
the world
Areas reported to have wax deposition

problems across the world

 Problem in offshore
• The offshore petroleum fluids are usually transported
in long-distance pipelines
• The oil typically comes out of the reservoir at
temperature around 160°F and is cooled
significantly as it is transported through the pipes on
the ocean floor, where the water temperature is
around 40°F(4°C)

• This temperature difference between the oil in the

pipeline and the surrounding water on the ocean
floor (160°F to 40°F) becomes the driving force that
causes the oil in the pipeline to cool down.
• .
• As the oil temperature decreases, the waxy
components can precipitate out of the oil and form
deposits on the pipe wall.

• The problem of wax deposition in the subsea

pipeline has caused a series of problems for the
flow assurance industry, including increased
pressure drop needed for oil transportation and
potential blockage of the pipeline
Wax deposit reducing effective diameter in a retrieved pipeline
(Singh et al.(2000))
 Cases of severe wax
problems offshore
• 51 occurrences of severe wax-related pipeline
plugging in the Gulf of Mexico between the years
1992 and 2002

• In one severe case, Elf Aquitaine in which a

removal of a wax-related pipeline blockage cost
as much as $5 million. The remediation of this
blockage resulted in a 40-day shutdown of the
pipeline, which added an additional loss of $25
million of deferred revenue
•
• In another extreme case in Staffa Field, Block 3/8b,
UK North Sea, in which the problem of wax
deposition, after several unsuccessful attempts for
remediation, eventually led to the abandonment of
the field and its platform leading to an estimated
loss of as much as $1 billion (Singh, 2000).
Paraffin deposition
challenges
Reduction of the internal diameter of
the pipelines

Increased surface roughness on the

pipe wall

Accumulations that fill process

vessels and storage tanks

Increased risk of sticking pigs in the

line and interference with the in-line
inspection of flowlines
 Mechanism of wax
deposition
• Generally Hydrocarbons in crude are of 4 groups,
which are
o Paraffins
o Olefins
o Aromatics
o Resins
• The waxy components of crude oils, also known as
n-paraffins, represent long, linear or branched
n-paraffin chains within produced hydrocarbons
and primarily consist of paraffin hydrocarbons
(C18-C36) and naphthenic hydrocarbons (C30 -
C60).
Paraffins
• These components are normally dissolved in the
oil at reservoir conditions where the temperature is
relatively high

• As the crude oil leaves the reservoir and travels

toward processing facilities, its temperature can
decrease substantially and potentially fall below the
Wax Appearance Temperature (WAT)
• As temperature falls below
WAT, paraffin molecules
start to precipitate out of
the crude and may begin
to agglomerate and
deposit as wax.
• It should be noted that the
precipitation of these waxy
components is mainly
temperature-dependent,
as pressure is often found
to have an insignificant
impact
A Cross Polarized microscope photo of wax oil gel (Lee et al., 2007)
Wax prevention and removal methods
Hot oiling

Thermal

Hot watering

Solvents

Wax crystal
modifiers

Chemical
Wax prevention and
removal
Dispersants

Surfactants

Progressive Pigging

Scraping and cutting

Mechanical
deposits from tubing

Use of Plastic or
coated pipe
 Wax crystal inhibitors/
PPDs
• Dispersants/inhibitors/Pour point inhibitors are used
as flow improvers

• Wax inhibitors are substances capable of building

into wax crystals and alter the growth and surface
characteristics of the crystals

• One effect utilized in crude oil production is the

reduced tendency of the crystals to stick to metallic
surfaces such as pipe walls.
 Key mechanism of action
of PPD
• PPDs contain oil soluble long chain alkyl group and
a polar moiety in the molecular structure.
• The long chain alkyl group insert into wax crystal
and polar moiety exist on the wax surface and
reduces wax crystal size (El-Gamal et al.,1998;
Holder and Winkler,1965)
• Mechanism of modifiers on wax is not clearly
understood, but it is clear that they enhance crystal
morphology.

• Thereby reducing the tendency of crystals to interlock

and form three-dimensional networks, leading to
lowering the pour point as well as the viscosity.

• Hence, the name “pour point depressant” is also used

for this class of chemicals

• A combination of different mechanisms involving :

o nucleation,
o co-crystallization, and
o adsorption.
 Focus of Research
• The focus of research is to study the effect a PPD
additive can have on the wax deposition and
crude flow behavior

• In this session, pipe line study experiments have

been conducted - specifically to analyze influence
of PPDs on wax deposition thickness in a pipeline
during flow of a waxy crude oil
Experimental work
Crude oil Properties
Values
Properties Unit Crude oil

API Gravity ̊API 16.8

Pour Point °C 37
Redwood viscosity cP 408

Wax content % (wt) 3.5

Saturates % (wt) 52.23
Aromatics % (wt) 9.01
Resins % (wt) 14.23
Asphaltenes % (wt) 10.48
 PPD used
• Variety of Pour point depressants were available

• Most commonly used were Ethyl vinyl acetate(EVA)

copolymer

• Others include poly alkyl acrylates and

methacrylate copolymers, alkyl esters of styrene-
maleic anhydride copolymers, alkyl actylate-alkyl
maleate copolymers, ethylene-vinyl acetate
copolymers; alkyl fumarate-vinyl acetate
copolymers are some of the flow improvers for
waxy crude oil.
• In our experiment methyl ester of unsaturated
carboxylic acid-olefin copolymer was used

• Eg. of such PPD:

Experimental setup
 Key features of setup
• Oil bath with 30 L capacity with temp. control and
mechanical stirrer
• Centrifuge variable drive pump
• Thermocouples for reading temperature
• 2 insulated stainless steel pipes pipes 1& 2 of 1 inch
and 2 inches dia. and each of length 2.5 m.
• Water as coolant stored in a water bath circulated
outside of oil pipes
• Heater and chiller systems for both water and oil for
modifying temp
• Volumetric flow meters for flow measurement
• Pressure transducers at both ends for measuring
pressure at both ends of pipes.
 Experimental parameters
• The experiment was conducted for a range of oil
line temperatures : 30°C , 35°C 40°C , 45°C

• 5 Flow rates were used : 80 to 120 LPM with a

increment of 10 LPM. Readings were taken after
flow rate didn’t fluctuate.

• Different PPD concentration was used in the

experiment: 200 PPM, 400, 600, 800, 1000 PPM
Wax deposition thickness calculations-
Pressure drop method
𝐿 𝜌 4𝑄 2
Frictional pressure drop: ∆ p𝑓 = 4𝑓
d 2 𝜋d2
where
• ∆p𝑓 is the pressure drop
• L is the length of the pipe section
• D is the hydraulic diameter or effective inside
diameter
• Q is the volumetric flow rate
• ρ is the fluid density
• f is the fanning factor
• Fanning friction factor: 𝑓 = 𝑐N𝑅𝑒
−n

4𝜌𝑄
• Reynold’s number : NRe =
𝜋µ𝑑

Where, µ is the apparent viscosity of the crude oil

c=16, n=1 for laminar flow and c = 0.046, n = 0.2
• Combing above two equations into equation of
frictional pressure drop,
𝑛 2−𝑛
2𝑐𝜌𝐿 µ 4𝑄
∆𝑃𝑓 = 5−𝑛
d 𝜌 𝜋
• Differentiating equation with respect to effective
inside dia.

• Once the frictional pressure drop across a pipe

section is measured and the flow rate, density, and
viscosity of the crude oil are determined, the wax
thickness present in the pipe wall can be
calculated accurately from
• In the experiments, influence of pressure drop ,
temperature and flow rate on wax deposition
thickness were studied.

• Also effect of increasing PPD concentration on wax

deposition thickness was studied.
Pipe 1 deposition results
Pipe 1 Q, LPM Pure 200 ppm 400 ppm 600 ppm 800 ppm 1000 ppm
crude PPD PPD PPD PPD PPD
δw, mm δw, mm δw, mm δw, mm δw, mm δw, mm
80 2.65412 2.61252 2.55569 2.49722 2.37501 2.29478
90 2.33973 2.29659 2.23765 2.177 2.05019 1.96692
30°C 100 2.01893 1.9737 1.91187 1.84822 1.71505 1.62751
110 1.71505 1.66773 1.60302 1.53637 1.3968 1.30497
120 1.40877 1.35899 1.29087 1.22066 1.07346 0.97648
80 2.52666 2.48234 2.42169 2.35921 2.22829 2.14209
90 2.20754 2.16155 2.09864 2.03379 1.89789 1.80839
35°C 100 1.88028 1.83201 1.76594 1.69782 1.5549 1.46068
110 1.56995 1.51939 1.45016 1.37873 1.22875 1.12976
120 1.25603 1.20276 1.12976 1.05438 0.8959 0.79115
80 2.43702 2.39069 2.32724 2.2618 2.12442 2.03379
90 2.11454 2.06646 2.00062 1.93268 1.79003 1.69589
40°C 100 1.78265 1.73215 1.66294 1.5915 1.44135 1.34215
110 1.46767 1.41473 1.34215 1.26718 1.10944 1.00511
120 1.14823 1.09238 1.01575 0.93654 0.76964 0.65906
80 2.37501 2.32724 2.2618 2.19423 2.05223 1.95841
90 2.05019 2.00062 1.93268 1.86253 1.71505 1.61757
45°C 100 1.71505 1.66294 1.5915 1.51769 1.36234 1.25954
110 1.3968 1.34215 1.26718 1.18966 1.02635 0.91815
120 1.07346 1.01575 0.93654 0.85455 0.68158 0.56678
Pipe 2 deposition results
Pipe 2 Q, LPM Pure 200 ppm 400 ppm 600 ppm 800 ppm 1000 ppm
crude PPD PPD PPD PPD PPD
δw, mm δw, mm δw, mm δw, mm δw, mm δw, mm
80 4.067585 3.947395 3.728622 3.5653 3.430094 3.255021
90 3.368641 3.243099 3.014479 2.843715 2.702289 2.519081
30°C 100 2.651731 2.519081 2.277286 2.096485 1.946616 1.752288
110 1.897909 1.755893 1.49664 1.302445 1.141249 0.931922
120 1.161697 1.009722 0.74 0.523298 0.349931 0.124435
80 4.007913 3.886014 3.664027 3.498218 3.360896 3.183004
90 3.243101 3.113899 2.87839 2.702289 2.556316 2.367039
35°C 100 2.519083 2.382472 2.133213 1.946616 1.791799 1.59086
110 1.827437 1.683253 1.419902 1.222519 1.058594 0.845613
120 1.009725 0.852864 0.565714 0.349931 0.170349 0.031337
80 3.886016 3.760562 3.531888 3.360896 3.219158 3.035374
90 3.113901 2.980841 2.738062 2.556316 2.405524 2.209809
40°C 100 2.382474 2.241685 1.984535 1.791799 1.631735 1.423768
110 1.609485 1.458425 1.182054 0.974512 0.801883 0.668314
120 0.852866 0.690828 0.39384 0.170349 0.0781 0.0781
80 3.760565 3.631366 3.395631 3.219158 3.072742 2.882706
90 2.912803 2.773554 2.519081 2.328231 2.169652 1.963507
45°C 100 2.169655 2.022151 1.752288 1.549632 1.381068 1.250644
110 1.38107 1.222519 0.931922 0.71324 0.668314 0.622976
120 0.607773 0.437367 0.124435 0.0781 0.031337 0.003071
Effect of temperature on Wax deposit
thickness for Pipe 1
Typical graph for deposition thickness
vs T at different conc. Of PPD
 Concerns with Pressure drop method for
wax deposition thickness calculation
• In our use of pressure drop method, flow was assumed
single phase
• Effect of pipe roughness was ignored
• Flow behavior index (n) was taken 1 to simplify
calculation
• It was because rheological behavior of crude would
require, as the shear rate greatly changes radially in the
flow field.
• Methods such as multidimensional computational fluid
dynamics are needed to incorporate the rheological
characteristics of the non-Newtonian flow into the 2-D
(axial and radial) momentum equation to evaluate the
pressure drop, which is complex and outside scope of
our current research, though it may tried to be studied.
 Conclusion
• Decreased pressure drop when the effective
diameter increased that is wax deposition thickness
decreased
• Higher flow rates lead to lower wax deposit
thickness due to erosion and turbulence.
• Higher temperatures lead to lower wax deposition
thickness at same flow rates.
• Generally with increase in PPD concentration.
Maximum reduction was observed in 1000 ppm and
45°C